Breaking down barriersBreaking barriers

sharing data in the public sector

christopher.norman@act.gov.au

christo_norman

https://au.linkedin.com/in/christonorman

Christopher Norman

Today, we are talking about culture

• Data-driven culture: what is it and why have it?

• Traits of a data-driven culture• Leadership; collaboration; discipline;

rewards & recognition; and space• In the ACT

• Centre of Data Excellence (CoDE)• Start small and go. Build on success,

learn from failure.• Where to from here

• Embedding a data-driven culture

A Catch 22

On the one hand

• Share• Work together• Collaborate• Share the data• Innovate

On the other

• Do not share• Need to know basis• But only through hierarchy• Don’t break the law• Follow the process

Some of the problems we have todayI can’t find the data I need

• Data is scattered everywhere• Who knows who owns it?• Who knows that it exists?• How do I get it?

I can’t understand the data• Experts wanted: apply here• Poorly documented• Is it authoritative• Quality is questionable – or unknown

I can’t use the data I found• Results are unexpected• The privacy attributes are unclear• Data needs to be transformed from one form to

another

LostVery Lost

What is a data-driven culture?• Data now: people have access to the data they

need when they need it in the format they need.

• Not just for the genius. • Data is pervasive across the organisation.• Making decisions based on data, not just the

gut.• “going from the gut is finally over” – Gartner

2016 (Martin Kihn)• Reporting squirrels versus Analysis Ninjas

Those who do not remember

the past are condemned to

repeat it . . .G e o r g e S a n t a y a n a

Those who think the past wil l keep

repeating itself are destined to remain

there.. .J o n C u m m i n g

Both actually…

Why have a data driven culture?

Reduces risk

01Improves services

02Creates new services

03Saves money

04

Demand

Supply

Data supply and demand

Lets talk Datanomics

There are five traits data-driven cultures exhibit

Leadership

Collaboration

Discipline

Reward & recognition

Space

1. Leadership• Vision and mission

• Set the boundaries and parameters• Principles, policies, controls, audit

• Hold people to account

• Lead from example

• Lead from the top – kill the hierarchy and break down the barriers

“Ask not what you can do for data, but what data can do for you”

One of the challenges is

hierarchy

2. Collaborate• Work with people• Listen to people• LUTI

3. Discipline

1. Treat data as an asset• Know how long it takes to share data

2. Know your data. • What are the capabilities and services it supports?

3. Measure its use• Track the percentage of funding going to evidence-

based and/or research-based programs in recent budget cycles

4. Reward and recognition

• Embed into performance management• Actually, make performance

reviews data driven by adopting OKR’s

• Reward data-driven behaviours• WIIFM

Dealing with the WIIFM

The Hierarchy of data needs

Making my life easier

Making my peers lives' easier

Making the community lives' better

5. Give people the space they need• Give them time to learn

• Give them the capability to explore what is possible

• Allow them to make mistakes

• Give them the tools they need to be data-driven

In the ACTImprove outcomes for

government and community by maximising value held in data

sets in a privacy-first way

Two high level use cases

What’s in it for me?

• “It takes me forever to do mundane activities, month in, month out”

A catch 22 problem

• “I need to link datasets to gather insights”• “I am not allowed to link data

due to privacy and legislative constraints”

We picked some champions and went for it

2 Objectives, 5 Proof of Concepts

1. Making life easier1. Internal reporting2. Public facing reports

2. Solving intractable problems1. Policy efficacy2. Predictive analytics3. Predicators

In our first MVP

Leadership• Building clear principles, policies and guidelines• Helping the leadership team see how it can be

doneCollaboration

• Worked with Directorates looking to solve problems

• Challenged beliefs• Addressed the WIIFM

Space• Gone DataOps• Created spaces for people to explore how to

link data• Built safety mechanisms into everything

Discipline• Started small and proving value• Understand the time taken to acquire data

Reward and recognition

Moving forward…

Leadership• Bed down principles, policies and

guidelines• Clear targets to aim for – from the top

Collaboration• Establish agreement on governance across

government• A Community of Practice established

Discipline• Start measuring the value and use of data• Who is using the data for what and when

Reward and recognition• Clear benefits of being data-driven• Recognising people’s great work

Space• Google for data• Created spaces for people to explore how to link

data• Built safety mechanisms into everything

We are obsessed with an urgency to

become Dataculturalists .

We need to l earn , co r ra l , observe , ana lyse , use

and va lue our g rowing resource .

… t o d e l i v e r b e t t e r p u b l i c s e r v i c e s ; a n d

p r o v i d e a n a c c e s s i b l e r e s o u r c e f o r a l l

b u s i n e s s e s , c i t i z e n s a n d c o m m u n i t y

g r o u p s .